V. Weight of Dreams and Slumber
5-1
She can see the most delicate colors,
The most distant contours.
She can see the most secret desires,
And through the most perfect liars…
“But being able to see everything is the same as seeing nothing.”
Countless mirages and cacophony,
Surround her with stimuli plenty,
Casting her into another kind of blindness overwhelming.
So she soaks herself in the bath,
And lets her golden thread go beyond the Palace.
When the water drops on the thread vibrate and shiver,
She closes her eyes and listens to the echoes silently.
She hears how a mother's feet were wound for
treading over too many stones,
And is soaking her feet in the hot water bath.
She hears children playing next to the pools,
And someone is saying—
“I hear that the golden goddess also likes to visit the baths.”
5-2
She's used to bathing alone,
At the start of the hours of Lucid or Parting.
Her golden hair spread in the water like a throne,
Like the scattered golden threads, wrapping her again in a cocoon…
Janus' Holy Maiden silent walks over,
Scooping up water to wash the weaver's hair
As if cleansing the bough of a laurel tree.
That is when the one who seized the Coreflame finally knows,
There's no difference between a “demigod” and a true deity.
The golden blood that congealed through divinity,
Only in this heavy heat can temporarily flow,
And let this “golden butterfly” feel a fleeting warmth.
Just as she had once touched her own face—
Falls the final tear her eyes will ever produce.
5-3
“Teacher, I had a dream.”
She recounts, like a young girl on a whim.
The sound of the water repels all disruptions and speech.
Such peaceful rest, such sweet dreams.
She dreamed of how she was a naive noble girl, ignorant of the world…
She dreamed of the countless nights when she worked, in the courtyards she weaved…
She dreamed of being before the vine-covered temple where the wind blew by in a violent stream…
Lastly, she dreamed of the prophecy that she heeded,
How the ancient sound came through the thousand waves,
And could not be heard clearly in her dream.
“Do not stare directly into the future of your people,
For that blinding prophecy will burn you all…”[1]
5-4
“The Dawn Device is always glittering,
And birds are always chittering…”
The children of Okhema like these kinds of songs.
Why not trust the promise of an Era Chrysea unending,
Like how children believe in fairytales passed down unceasing?
But will the Dawn Device truly shine forever?
Will the voices of songbirds not one day turn hoarse?
In the golden bath in times gone by, she pierced her eyes.
For she saw the
All-too-dazzling future of everyone.
That future was nothing compared to false promises.
“That is the price you must pay for listening to my prophecy.”[2]
The gods have already determined her destiny and her passing.
She knew. She has long known.
5-5
The red-haired child appears worried.
“You are aware of everyone's fate,
Yet never speak of your own future.”[3]
The child who passes along the prophecy understands,
That to lay such a heavy weight on one person,
Is comparable to the dawn of the Worldbearing Titan shoulders.
“There's only one future for silken threads—
That is, to weave magnificent clothes for others.”
She takes the children's hands,
Inviting them into the pools,
Intending to use the warm water to wash away their concerns.
Yes, before the toll of the bell that announces the hour,
Before the meeting to judge the Flame-Chase begins.
Do not waste the rare good dreams,
Or the languid waves warm as tears.
She mutters
As destiny slumbers in her arms:
“The one that wears this elegant attire in the future must
bear the weight of the silk threads.”